France – Breeder of Separatism

Posted by Aneela Shahzad
on March 05, 2016

GTAB Timelines are Conceptual and Focus on Historical Phenomenon that Affect Global Political Progression.

France – Father of Communism – Timeline

Concept – Though France is usually not labeled with Communism but the French Revolution of 1789 was the model upon which the Communist Ideal was built. The Revolution marked the rising to power of a small enlightened group, the Jacobins, by stirring the masses under the slogan of equality, justice and scientific reasoning. Hence with the power of the masses over-throwing the age-old system of monarchy and (ideally) returning power to the masses.

After the Industrial revolution, Communism re-emerged with the slogan of equality and the idea to over-throw of the Bourgeoisie (owners of industry) and redistribute wealth and power among the masses (working class). Sadly this ideal was never successfully attained in any communist revolution, yet the slogan did capture the appeal of the masses.

After communist revolutions in Russia (1917) and in China (1949), the wave of communism spread quickly in European countries. This was the time in the aftermath of the two World Wars, when most nations were wary of their age-rotten monarchies and wanted a way out of the strife of war and decadence of their societies under status quo dynastic rule. Moreover, as the Imperial Colonialist that had occupied most countries were inherently capitalist, focused on extracting raw material from the colonies to run their industries and increase their riches – the occupied nations were increasingly bent towards the communist ideal as the only practical example of throwing off the Colonialists.

In this premise, France, a major colonial power, became the seed-bed of revolutionary socialist ideology for many. Formation of underground secret societies is an essential tenant of the communist model, as it is the struggle of the commoners against the elite. The Question is – did communism use the soil of France or did Imperial France abduct the communist ideal and used it as bait to harbor revolutionary groups that would over-throw disliked regimes?

Below is a timeline of communist/socialist parties that originated in France

France – Breeder of Separatism

The timeline depicts French involvement in several separatist/militant movement before and after the two World Wars.

1831 – Young Italy (La Giovine Italia) was founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini. The goal of this movement was to create a united Italian republic through promoting a general insurrection in the Italian reactionary states and in the lands occupied by the Austrian Empire, the same Austria that joined Germany against the French in WW1.

1850’s – The Young Bengal Movement was a group of radical Bengali free thinkers emerging from Hindu College, Calcutta. They were also known as Derozians, after their firebrand teacher at Hindu College, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.

1902 - Young Turks had their origins in secret societies of "progressive medical university students and military cadets", namely the Young Ottomans. First Congress of Ottoman Opposition was held on 4 February 1902, at the house of Germain Antoin Lefevre-Pontalis, a member of the Institut de France. The opposition was performed in compliance with the French government, the Second Congress of Ottoman Opposition took place in Paris, France, in 1907. The Young Turks led an internal revolution against the Ottoman Sultan, forcing him to constitutionalize power amidst WW1.

1909 - Al-Ahd (Covenent) and Al-Fatat (the Young) were two such secret societies in both Syria and Iraq. Parallel to secrecy, socialism also always has a ‘renaissance’ factor aided by literary work and journals, in the Arab world this movement was called Al-Nahda or ‘the awakening’. As far back as 1870, Butrus al-Bustani adopted the socialist slogan of ‘Love of the Homeland is an article of Faith’, in his journal Al-Jinan.

1907 - Young Algerians (French: Jeunes Algériens in French) were a political group established in French Algeria in 1907. They were assimilationists, meaning that they wanted Algerian society to integrate with French colonial society. As such, they called for reforms that would give France's Algerian subjects the same rights as French citizens enjoyed.

1907 – The Young Tunisians (French: Jeunes Tunisiens) was formed in 1907 by a group of young Tunisian intellectuals inspired by the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptian National Party led by Mustafa Kamal Pasha. They were French-educated and advocated for the rights of Tunisians and Frenchmen.

1911 – The Young Bosnia was formed in 1911, it was aided by the secret military society Black Hand formed by some Serbian army members in 1901. Its aim was to replace the pro-Austrian Obrenović dynasty with the pro-Russian Karađorđević. The Franco-Russian Alliance at that time wanted all Serbian land to break off from Austria-Hungary, for the purpose the Russian ambassador Hartwig cultivated connections with these secret societies.

1911 – Mahmūd Tarzī, known as the father of Afghan journalism, was influenced by Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani and the works of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey for modernization and secularization. Tarzi emulated the Young Turks and formed the Young Afghans in 1911 on his return to Afghanistan.

1911 - Young Bosnia (Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: Mlada Bosna; Cyrillic: Млада Босна) was a revolutionary movement active before World War I. The members were predominantly school students.[1] It included primarily Serbs but also Bosniaks and Croats[2] There were several motivations promoted amongst different members of the group. There were members who promoted Yugoslavist aims of pan-South Slav unification of territories including Bosnia into a Yugoslavia.

1933 – The Young Egypt Party‎ (Misr El-Fatah Party) was formed in October 1933 as a "radical nationalist" party with "religious elements" by its leader Ahmed Husayn. Its aim was to make Egypt an "empire"—the empire consisting of Egypt and Sudan—that would ally with other Arab countries and "serve as the leader of Islam" in place of the Ottomans. The Urabi revolt was organized by them.

1957 - The Hungarian Young Communist League (KISZ) was a communist youth movement in Hungary was founded in 1957, following the break of 1956 Hungarian Revolution, a revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies.

1981 – National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), founded in 1981 in France, is one of the two parliament in exile of the "Iranian Resistance" (the other being National Council of Iran), and is a political umbrella coalition of five Iranian opposition political organizations, the largest organization being the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), Mujahideen e Khalq.

2011 – Al-Shabab, Libya, also known as the Libyan Youth Movement (LYM), is a Libyan Facebook group started in January 2011 to spread awareness on planned protests (17 February) across the country. As the uprising began, the Libyan Youth Movement provided news, images and videos in real time across the world and acted as a unified voice for the Libyan people.